The Syntheses of CO2 Adsorbent Microporous Materials in Amine Solutions

This work focuses on the design, production, characterization and testing of materials that potentially have a high capability of capturing carbon dioxide from natural gas precombustion (high pressure adsorption) feed and post combustion (low pressure adsorption) effluent gases. It is anticipated that the proposed work will result in high surface area solid materials that can be utilized for the optimized CO2 capture. Aqueous amine solutions have long been used to remove CO2 and H2S (natural gas sweetening) from industrial gas streams. Alkanolamines such as monoethanolamine (MEA) and N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) are some of solvents commonly used for CO2 removal. On the other hand Prussian Blue (PB) analogues have been investigated widely in gas uptake field for their promising gas uptake behaviors. It is known that PB complexes are prepared mostly in aqueous solutions. In this project we will prepare PB complexes in alkanolamine solutions to incorporate these amine molecules into the pores of the aforementioned microporous materials. The amine molecules that occupy the micropores will increase the CO2 adsorption of these materials due to the well-known interaction between CO2 and -NH2 groups. Convenient and conventional amine molecules such as MEA, DEA, and MDEA will be used in this project. Obtained complexes will be characterized with powder X-ray Diffractometer (XRD), Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and BET isotherms as full characterization scheme. CO2 adsorption of these clusters will also be investigated using Rubotherm® magnetic suspension balance.